You couldn’t make it up.
Mere months after the decision to return to blue passports in the United Kingdom post-Brexit was described as a “stunning Brexit victory for The Sun”, it has been revealed that the lucrative contract to make those passports is likely to be awarded by a company based in the European Union.
Various outlets in the UK are reporting that Gemalto, a company based in Paris and listed on the French and Dutch stock exchanges, is likely to win a contract worth in the region of £490 million (approximately €561 million) to produce the new blue passports.
According to the Guardian, a Home Office spokesperson said that no final decision has yet been made.
“We are running a fair and open competition to ensure that the new contract delivers a high quality and secure product and offers the best value for money for customers,” the spokesperson said.
“We do not require passports to be manufactured in the UK. A proportion of blank passport books are currently manufactured overseas, and there are no security or operational reasons why this would not continue.”
UK-based company De La Rue, who first produced a UK passport in 1915 and have had a long-standing contract to produce UK passports, including the current burgundy model, issued a profit warning on Tuesday, warning investors that profits are likely to be “at the lower end of the current consensus range” without providing further details.
The news, not surprisingly, hasn’t gone down too well amongst those in the pro-Brexit camp, with former Cabinet minister and prominent Brexit campaigner Priti Patel going as far as to describe it as “a national humiliation”.
“This should be a moment that we should be celebrating. The return of our iconic blue passport will re-establish the British identity,” she said.
“But to be putting the job in the hands of the French is simply astonishing. It is a national humiliation.”
